Westminster council could lay off 70 Monday

April 30, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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David Silvas, of Westminster, has survived a round of job cuts with the City of Westminster. Some of his fellow city workers' jobs are being eliminated. He pauses outside Westminster's Corporation Yard after attending a meeting concerning pending layoffs. On Monday, Westminster's City Council is expected to approve layoffs of staff members that were paid with lost redevelopment funds. H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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In this file photo, Sgt. Jim Kingsmill and architect Peter Lattey walk outside the new $52 million Westminster Police building paid with redevelopment money. The City of Westminster is looking to lay off or retire approximately 80 full-time and part-time employees due to the city's loss of redevelopment funds. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the layoffs on Monday. PHOTO BY JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, TEXT BY ROXANA KOPETMAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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David Silvas, of Westminster, pauses outside Westminster's Corporation Yard after attending a meeting concerning pending layoffs. He is among those employees whose job is not being eliminated. Westminster 's City Council is expected to approve layoffs of staff members that were paid with lost redevelopment funds. H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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On Wednesday, some Westminster city employees gathered at the city's Corporation Yard to discuss the issue of pending layoffs. Westminster 's City Council is expected to approve layoffs of staff members that were paid with lost redevelopment funds. H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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In this file photo, Officer Bill Eifert moves equipment in the new Westminster Police building. The 91,000-square-foot police building was constructed with redevelopment money. It opened a year ago. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Westminster Police building project includes construction of a 91,000-square-foot police building housing an upgraded 911 communications center, a new forensic lab, increased evidence storage capacity, an Emergency Operations Center, an 18 cell jail facility and administrative work space. The $52 million facility was paid for with money from the city's Redevelopment Agency. Redevelopment money also is used to fund employee salaries. With the loss of the city's redevelopment revenue, officials are now looking to eliminate jobs, increase fees and consider new taxes. PHOTO BY JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, TEXT BY ROXANA KOPETMAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

David Silvas, of Westminster, has survived a round of job cuts with the City of Westminster. Some of his fellow city workers' jobs are being eliminated. He pauses outside Westminster's Corporation Yard after attending a meeting concerning pending layoffs. On Monday, Westminster's City Council is expected to approve layoffs of staff members that were paid with lost redevelopment funds.H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

WESTMINSTER—Redevelopment money paid for the new $52 million police building. It paid for street improvement and other infrastructure projects. And it helped increase affordable housing in the city.

It also partially funded city salaries.

With the recent dissolution across California of redevelopment agencies, the Westminster City Council is now poised to layoff or retire some 70 full-time and part-time employees, increase dozens of fees to residents and businesses and consider new taxes.

On Monday afternoon, council members will receive a final list of staff's recommendations on which positions to eliminate. And a few hours later, they will vote on who will lose their jobs. As of Friday, the tally was 32 full-time, including 10 early retirements, and 38 part-time employees. The losses are expected to impact city services in every department, including police.

"With staff reductions, the city will have to figure out how to deliver the services in a timely manner," said Assistant City Manager Eddie Manfro. "Clearly, it will be difficult to do what we do."

City staff is recommending the council increase fees for services, from building permits to recreation permits, to raise approximately $600,000. The staff report does not detail a breakdown of how much each fee would cost residents and business owners. The Orange County Chapter of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California filed a request to continue the matter, saying the city did not provide a minimum of 14 days notification as required by law.

City staff also is asking council members to vote on hiring a consultant for $154,000 for an "outreach program" to talk to residents about the city's "critical financial situation" and the potential of increasing Westminster's sales tax by .50 cent to .75 cent, said City Manager Mitch Waller.

Even if the City Council approves the layoffs and increase in fees on Monday, the city faces a remaining deficit of $3.3 million, Waller said. In the near future, the council may need to consider dipping into the city's reserves, he said.

Hundreds of cities in California created redevelopment agencies under state law to encourage development in blighted areas. Westminster took it a step further. Officials here placed the entire city in a redevelopment area. Last December, the California Supreme Court upheld a new state law that abolished the agencies. That hit Westminster hard.

Until its dissolution Feb. 1, the local agency had $38 million in its coffers, compared to $43 million in general fund revenue. The projected deficit for the next fiscal year is $10.5 million.

"It was not a good idea to use redevelopment dollars to subsidize a lot of our staff's salaries," said Councilman Tyler Diep.

Last spring, city officials discussed weaning Westminster away from using redevelopment funds for salaries, Diep said. During those talks, officials discussed the possibility of Westminster not passing a state audit because some of its positions were fully funded by money from the RDA, or Redevelopment Agency.

Diep said he was unsure how many jobs were fully paid by redevelopment money but "the bulk" were in the planning division and included at least three city planners.

"This last fiscal year, we were trying to right-size the ship," Diep said.

"We had a three year plan," Diep said. "We knew we had to do this. By the end of that fiscal year, around June, we were successful in convincing labor organizations in making substantial concessions. Both gave up a lot of benefits to help the city be in a more sound fiscal footing."

Then the Supreme Court "threw a curve ball" at the cities and, suddenly, he said, "it became a six-month plan."

Councilman Tri Ta said the use of redevelopment money for salaries was appropriate because the employees worked on redevelopment projects. Ta also emphasized that the city used redevelopment money for the benefit of the community and to improve residents' quality of life.

"The new police facility and the new Westminster Chamber of Commerce building, those two buildings were paid by RDA funding," Ta said. "We tried to provide the best tools and equipment for our law enforcement. The new Westminster Chamber building really benefits the business community."

On Monday, the council is scheduled to take a final vote on the layoffs, which call for laying off non-sworn employees of the Police Department and eliminating three police officer positions that are now vacant – a move staff said would lead to longer response times to low priority calls and increased overtime pay.

Many of the other layoffs will affect employees in support services, such as part-time clerical employees, said Manfro, the assistant city manager. But no sworn police officers, crossing guards, recreation leaders or lifeguards for the city's swimming programs will be laid off, he said.

The layoffs would mean a reduction of approximately 13 percent of the city's full-time workers, now 241, and a 25 percent reduction in the part-time force of 144 employees, Chet Simmons, assistant to the city manager, wrote in a staff report.

Diep said one management position and two mid-manager level jobs are on the list of cuts. And there may be more layoffs in the future, the councilman said. "We're trying to get through phase one first," he said.

The council recently authorized a severance package that will give full-time laid off employees health insurance benefits for six months and a lump sum that ranges from two weeks for employees with less than two years on the job to 12 weeks' pay for those with more than 15 years with the city.

The city also offered a voluntary early retirement package for employees who are at least 50 years old. Ten accepted. Some of them said "voluntary" is a misnomer.

"Even though they call it voluntary, for me, what choice did I have?" said Mary Masters, an accounting clerk in the city's finance department whose position is slated for elimination.

Masters said she will no longer be able to afford her home in Lake Elsinore and plans to move in with her fiancée. For her, the retirement "is a blessing in disguise. But if I wasn't getting married, what would I do, where would I go?" Her last day, after 15 years as a city employee, is Friday.

Sally Campos, who works the information desk, also said she had no choice but to accept the retirement package that nets her a slightly greater sum than the severance package. Campos said she will look for a new job but also risks losing her home in Huntington Beach.

"I was born and raised in Westminster. I was hoping to retire here," she said.

The loss of city employees directly affects residents, the workers said.

"They're getting rid of a lot of people in the front counter." Campos said. "There's a constant flow of people here. They want information and direction: how to have their water turned on; who is going to pick up their trash; new residents who want to sign up for utilities; they want a copy of their birth certificate; they want something notarized; they pay their water bills here; they want to know where to pay a ticket. Who is going to help these people in the front counter?"

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